I consult on content strategy and produce web content for technology companies. In 2014, I went around the USA on an 8-month roadtrip (in a bright blue RV called 3DRV) exploring 3D Printing, 3D Scanning, and 3D Design. In the past, I have put pen to paper for the Wall Street Journal, Make, Sports Afield, the Pittsburgh Business Times and many others. You can follow my work via Twitter or email me. I write about the cloud, gadgets and gear, and 3D.

Yelp announced that it is powering the Microsoft Bing local search engine results. If users search on Bing, relevant Yelp reviews will display on the right side of the screen. Plus, Apple has joined forces with Yelp on its new maps application along with providing more content to Siri. This is a positive move for Yelp and for small business owners who have figured out how to use the service wisely. It is also a wake-up call for Google.

Yelp had an average of approximately 71 million monthly unique visitors in Q1 2012

6.3 million unique visitors used a Yelp mobile app

Every second a consumer looks up or calls a business from a Yelp mobile app (Q42011)

A photo was uploaded every 30 seconds from a Yelp mobile app

Yelpers have written over 27 million local reviews.

Over 40% of all Yelp searches come from their mobile apps. (Q4, 2011)

“Yelp will surface content including, review snippets, photos, business attributes, and more, to Bing users in the U.S. This content will be featured prominently on relevant Bing Local pages, presenting information to help consumers do more with businesses near them.” – Yelp news release

Yelp is one of the dominant replacements to the colored pages directories of the world and the antiquated idea that people still use those books with yellow paper in them. Except as doorstops or firestarters. Businesses either love Yelp or hate it. Those who despise Yelp are often business owners that feel trampled upon by the customer. Some of those complaints are warranted, but to think that consumer review sites are going to disappear any time soon, or ever, is a mistake.

How I titled this post is related to another post I wrote about Yelp that brought in a rash of owners angry that consumers had written a negative review about their company and that the service was a scam. The service is far from a scam and one that I believe can help a young (or established) company find new customers. However, if your company is not doing a good job, you will get negative reviews — or in more clear language — your business will get hammered by consumer reviewers. See below for advice on how to counteract “unjust” negative reviews.

As a marketing tool, many maker companies and small businesses are highly adept at leveraging new media tools, Yelp included. As mobile devices and local search continues to grow, we’ll see more entrepreneurial companies leap ahead of less nimble competitors who think Facebook, Yelp, or Google+ are fads.

Here are some of the things you should do to tap into the power of Yelp:

Claim your listing. Business owners can have a free account that enables them to respond to customer reviews (privately as well as publicly). Details from Yelp are here on the Business Owner’s Account page.

Take a deep breath before you respond to a negative review, but you should almost always respond. There are times when it is best not to and Yelp offers pointers on when you shouldn’t. That deep breath is true in just about any situation where someone criticizes you, but the internet has a long memory. Many customer service experts recommend viewing the negative feedback as a wakeup call to what you can fix. I’m not saying the customer is always right, far from it, but just proceed slowly as you think about how to respond. You can private message a reviewer once you have an account.

Try to get more reviews. As you receive positive reviews, they will eventually raise your “score” and push a negative review lower. It will still exist, but it won’t dominate your profile. It isn’t considered appropriate to request positive reviews from customers, but many merchants do it. It is better to encourage and welcome feedback. Yelp gives a lot of advice to business owners. Start here.

Consider advertising on Yelp. This is one of the areas where owners feel it is a bit of extortion. If you advertise on Yelp, you can remove competitors ads from your listing/profile page. I understand the small business owner’s perspective here, but it isn’t much different than other search engine result pages that show “sponsored ads” from your competitors. It’s a tough web world out there.

Yelp is a resource that consumers have grown to trust and use daily. This isn’t just for restaurants, either. People use it to find local businesses of all types and can see at a glance how others review that company. Lisa Barone at Small Business Trends (where I’m a product review editor) did a terrific post on its use and value for the SMB owner last year: Yelp Data Shows The Power of Mobile Marketing.

Share your Yelp story below. I’m eager to hear how it is helping small business, maker companies, small urban manufacturers, and of course, retail types.

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Check this out – unyelpme.com! – we found it and it’s fantastic – it will instantly fix your Yelp review stress like it did ours. We got our own reviews site that also ACCEPTS reviews too. We did it all in a few minutes and never have to care again about﻿ Yelp ot any other review sites affecting our business.

Just go to unyelpme.com and read the one page there and you’ll understand in a few minutes.

I just saw this article. Here’s an example of a frustration a client has with Yelp: All of the good and excellent reviews of her banquet hall, which are the recent ones, were made by people who rarely write reviews and/or have minimal profile information, and are therefore hidden from view. We had to search for a while to figure out how to find them. Two mediocre reviews, which are the oldest reviews, were written by people who contribute often to Yelp, and are therefore front and center.

As someone who reads Yelp for hotel and restaurant reviews, I think this practice makes Yelp LESS reliable. I want to read the most recent reviews, no matter who has written them, and I don’t want to wonder if good or bad reviews have been hidden from me.

I agree with Angelique. The biggest frustration I have with Yelp as a small business owner is the fact that I have so many clients who have given me 5-star reviews on Yelp, only to have them filtered out – because of Yelp’s algorithm. The way they choose which reviews to filter has to do with the individual reviewing – how many other reviews they’ve posted, how many “friends” they have on Yelp, etc. Because my clients chose to start a Yelp account for the sole purpose of giving me a review, they were filtered out. I have EIGHT reviews filtered, and ZERO unfiltered reviews. This is the problem. If I had negative reviews, I would handle them appropriately. However, because I work my a$$ off to make my clients happy, I get good reviews. I know for a fact that as soon as a client gives me a 3- o4 4-star review, IT will be the one that stays unfiltered, thus reflecting inaccurate information about my business. TJ, I don’t understand why you can’t see this is a major problem with Yelp that must be fixed.

I agree with Angelique. The biggest frustration I have with Yelp as a small business owner is the fact that I have so many clients who have given me 5-star reviews on Yelp, only to have them filtered out – because of Yelp’s algorithm. The way they choose which reviews to filter has to do with the individual reviewing – how many other reviews they’ve posted, how many “friends” they have on Yelp, etc. Because my clients chose to start a Yelp account for the sole purpose of giving me a review, they were filtered out. I have EIGHT reviews filtered, and ZERO unfiltered reviews. This is the problem. If I had negative reviews, I would handle them appropriately. However, because I work my a$$ off to make my clients happy, I get good reviews. I know for a fact that as soon as a client gives me a 3- o4 4-star review, IT will be the one that stays unfiltered, thus reflecting inaccurate information about my business. TJ, I don’t understand why you can’t see this is a major problem with Yelp that must be fixed?

The good ads do NOT push down the bad ones, the good ads get filtered away and the bad ones stay forever whether they are true or not. The only way around it I suppose is to advertise but at over $350/a month who can afford it? Most small business owenrs are already over extended. We have to date over ten favorable reviews, all of which have been filtered away while the two bad ones we received are still up no matter that they are not true, no matter that I messaged the writers. yelp does not care about small business. They are thugs, plain and simple.

For the record I am affiliated with RateDiary.com Please read as I’m pretty sure you will like the concept of RateDiary.com You might want to try this new online review website called RateDiary. This site helps businesses get reviews from paying customers only and enables them to manage their online reputation. No more reviews from non-paying customers, competitors or anonymous people. This is how it works. The business creates RateDollar vouchers in any denomination they like. Then the business simply hands there customers a RateDollar voucher after a sale or purchase. This RateDollar voucher gives the customer 7 days to leave a review before it expires. Once the customer leaves a review they get rewarded with the RateDollars that is listed on the voucher. Customers then can redeem RateDollars in the form of a VISA/Mastercard gift card they can use anywhere but ATM’s. Also consumers can get rewarded 20 RateDollars for referring a business that’s signs up to RateDiary. Now there’s finally a way to get the satisfied customers to leave reviews. The RateDiary.com mobile app for Android and iphone should be out in a few weeks. Check it out!!! Please let me know what you think, but look at the website first…

Beyond the negative reviews, basically they are making a small business pay to eliminate competitors’ advertisements from their own page (buying ads on their own page). Even if the small business is highly rated and reviewed, they may not have the budget ($375/month, minimum – with a one year commitment), to buy out the ad space on their page. I can’t decide if it’s worth it to do it, and thus not advertise or implement other marketing strategies locally, or to do it simply for that reason.

Hi Amanda, you raise some good points. I’m not sure they are all accurate, but that’s for another discussion. Overall, I view this as the market voice. You can try to avoid or overwhelm the market voice, but seems unwise to do so. There are plenty of success stories on how Yelp has helped a business to grow. I empathize with small biz owners who don’t have the budget – I’ve been there. But even without advertising, it is possible to use Yelp to grow. Not meaning to oversimplify, but when you provide awesome service, awesome product, people respond and write good reviews. Personally, I discount the wacko reviews — positive and negative — when choosing a place. And I use Yelp ALL the time – I’m traveling constantly (3DRV) and for other project work, so I use it to find good places to eat, shop, etc.